Resources

What is the difference between Speech and Language?

(Source: https://www.asha.org/)

Speech:

• Articulation/Phonology

How we make speech sounds using the mouth, lips, and tongue. For example, we need to be able to say the “r” sound to say "rug" instead of "wug.” 

• Articulation disorders- focus on errors (e.g., distortions and substitutions) with individual speech sounds. 

• Phonological Disorders- focus on predictable, rule-based errors (e.g., fronting, stopping, and final consonant deletion) that affect more than one sound. 

• Voice

How we use our vocal folds and breath to make sounds. Our voice can be loud or soft or high- or low-pitched. We 

can hurt our voice by talking too much, yelling, or coughing a lot.

• Fluency

This is the rhythm of our speech. We sometimes repeat sounds or pause while talking. People who do this a lot may 

stutter. There are three types of stuttering: repetitions (repeat a sound or part of words), prolongations (stretch out one sound for a long time, and blocks (have trouble getting a word out).

Language:

• Expressive Language

The ability to express your wants, needs, thoughts, and opinions through verbal or nonverbal communication (the “output” of language). It is the ability to put thoughts into words and sentences in a way that makes sense and is grammatically correct. 

Children who have difficulty producing language may struggle with labeling objects, asking questions, using appropriate grammar, and making comments. Children with poor expressive language skills may become frustrated when they cannot communicate their wants and needs. 

• Receptive Language

The ability to understand spoken language that you hear or read (the "input" of language). For example, a child’s ability to listen and follow directions (i.e., “put on your shoes”) relies on the child’s receptive language skills. 

Children who have difficulty understanding language may struggle with following directions, answering questions, identifying objects and pictures, and understanding a story.

• Social Language

The ability to use verbal and nonverbal language to interact with other people. Primary difficulties may be in social interaction, social understanding, pragmatics, and language processing. 

Children who have difficulty with social language may struggle with understanding the perspective of others, following the rules for engaging appropriately in conversations (i.e., turn taking, topic maintenance), and understanding and using appropriate eye contact, facial expressions, and body language.